Education DIVE

Interest in coding bootcamps is on the rise. Course Report projects the growing sector will produce more than 16,000 graduates in 2015, up from less than half of that in 2014.

President Barack Obama has praised the bootcamp model, highlighting it as an important alternative to a longer, more expensive degree program for adults who want to become more marketable in their job searches.

Bloc, a three-year-old online bootcamp provider is now offering a 48-week software engineering track that it says will fill the skills gap. Additionally, the track comes with a job placement guarantee. Graduates are eligible for a complete reimbursement of the $24,000 tuition if they don’t find a job within four months that offers at least $60,000 per year.

The Evolllution

Coding bootcamps are emerging as a new trend in training for employment. These represent specific training for acquisition of competencies necessary for certain job profiles that are in high demand as a result of changing labor market conditions.

In Europe, the European Commission identified the skills gap in the information and communications technology (ICT) area as a priority. The European Commission therefore created a partnership in 2013 that is called the Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs.

Higher education institutions in general have not addressed this issue of the digital skills gap directly. Private and corporate providers have been more diligent and have responded to this need at certain levels.

University World News

Can China become a global leader in higher education innovation? UNESCO seems to think so, and believes Shenzhen is a suitable incubator. UNESCO’s approval should be noted as recognition of China’s advancements in higher education.

In October, the International Centre for Higher Education Innovation, or ICHEI, was approved as a UNESCO Category 2 institute in Shenzhen. Of the 94 established Category 2 institutes, nine are focused on education. As the tenth, ICHEI will be expected to engage in capacity building, knowledge sharing and research.

The Evolllution

Coding bootcamps are trending in the U.S. Generally, students can pay anywhere from $10k to $20k and spend six to 15 weeks learning web development skills. Large companies such as Facebook, Adobe, Google and many others now recruit students from these new talent pipelines.

By partnering with the Flatiron School bootcamp, Southern New Hampshire University is creating new pathways for its students to gain literacy in what is not merely a fad but an increasingly necessary skillset for the workforce.

Students will have the option to follow up a three-year traditional curriculum with six months of the web development curriculum as well as a paid internship during their final semester before graduation.

Campus Technology

In this article, higher ed IT leaders share eight ways to make the best use of the data coming out of the campus learning management system (LMS).

The Oral Roberts University issued Fitbits to on-campus students and Garmin vivofits to online students as part of the "whole person" philosophy. The data generated by those activity trackers drizzles automatically into the university's D2L gradebook in time for settling up midterm grades and finals.

That's the way a lot of the best analytics work in higher ed right now: Small streams of data pour into and out of the learning management system to tell administrators, teachers and students things that can make a difference in their decision-making.

NPR Ed

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, announced they'll be investing nearly all their fortune, some $45 billion, in good causes.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is making one main bet: Technology can broaden access to quality education. Particularly through personalized learning.

So far, so good. Just one problem. Over the last two decades, educational technologies, including personalized learning, have closed few divides, even when they're free. Instead, they've opened up a new one: the digital divide.

Education News

Yale has debuted a slate of on-demand MOOCs on the Coursera platform responding to learners’ needs for more flexibility and zero wait-time for enrollment cycles.

These MOOCs are Yale’s first on-demand massive open online courses. With Coursera’s on-demand feature, students can enroll at any given time to a self-paced course rather than wait for the next enrollment opening.

Educational Innovation Weekly Reviewis curated by Tecnológico de Monterrey's Observatory of Educational Innovation. With the highlights of the week on innovation, technology and education. If you require more information about a specific note, please email us: observatorio@itesm.mx. TECNOLÓGICO DE MONTERREY, 2015.